Silver Saddle Motel
and Dawn Aley
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Entrance to the Silver Saddle Motel and Vintage Car
Sculpture above the entrance of the Silver Saddle Motel
We headed to Santa Fe next, where we planned to stay and dine at historic properties that were once on Route 66. Santa Fe lost its official place on Route 66 in 1938 because of a realignment that is largely attributed to political payback.
The Western-themed Silver Saddle Motel is located on Cerrillos Road, known as historic "motel row," the original section of the old road before realignment. The Motel has been in business for over fifty years and is family-owned. "Route 66 means a lot me," says motel owner, Dawn Aley. "I love history and enjoy collecting vintage things. We live in such a toss-away and fast-paced society that it has been kind of therapeutic for me to imagine a time in America where things were not in such a rush. It seems like the Route 66 era was about piling the family in the car and spending good quality time, meeting strangers across the way, and taking the time to stop at all the cheesy and creative tourist stops. There were so many different types of hotels, motels, and restaurants...it was fun experiencing their unique qualities. Now most of these places are chains, so the element of surprise has been taken out of a place to sleep or eat. Maybe I am romanticizing traveling Route 66, as I am too young to have seen the highway in its heyday, but I think those who take this trip on Route 66 leave it having learned the history, tradition, and values of a bygone era. I value the stories related to me by Route 66 travelers who stay at the Silver Saddle Motel."
We loved Santa Fe and took full advantage of our time in this beautiful city. Its history is remarkable--founded in 1610 on the ruins of an abandoned Tanaon Village, the Capitol of New Mexico for four hundred years, has the oldest Government building in the United States (The Palace of the Governors), and was once the end of the old Santa Fe Trail...which was shared by Route 66 between 1926 and 1937.
While in Santa Fe we toured the historic areas, did some serious shopping, and spent a few hours at Ten Thousand Waves Resort, a spa in the mountains that combines a 'Japanese-adobe' esthetic with state-of-the-art-technology.
